Battered But Emboldened
by McBoats
Summary: Eddie had never met anyone like her, and he doubted he ever would again. A series of one-shots that revolve around Molly and Eddie. Rated T for swearing, violence and some sexual themes.
1. In Good Company

Author's Note: This is a very obscure ship that came into my mind one day and never left, and since no one else ships it, I felt like since I have some writing skills, I should write my own story for them. So this will eventually probably become AU in the future, since we might see some of the characters mentioned again, but for now it fits in with canon. These one-shots will be at different times in their relationship, it will not be in chronological order for the most part. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Eddie and Molly walked across and the porch, Eddie going first and opening the door for his companion. The floor of the worn abandoned house creaked beneath their feet as they stepped in. It was dusk, so it was going to get dark soon, but the sun still shone through the cracked windows.

"Your surprise is in the living room, its the only room that didn't smell like ten years of water damage." Eddie said, turning to face her.

"And you checked all the other rooms to make sure no one is here, right?" Molly said glancing up the stairs, and then down the hallway over Eddie's shoulder.

"I knew you would ask that, so I triple checked. I didn't find much in the way of supplies, but I _did _find something." They walked down to the end of the hallway, and stopped at the door that lead to the living room. Eddie opened the door and slipped through, motion Molly to stay in the hallway. She crossed her arms and resorted to giving the hallway another once over. The chipped paint was curling off the walls, and the ceiling had cracks that made it resemble a shattered mirror. She had been feeling pretty good for the past few months, when she first came across Eddie, he was possibly the most frustrating people she had ever met, and he, for whatever reason, decided he wanted to team up with her.

The first few weeks they were together, Molly was convinced she was gonna rip his head off. He had the itchiest trigger finger, and when he panicked, his first instinct was to shoot, and that was what almost always got them into trouble. But after a while, he learned to remain calm and go for his gun as a last resort. Molly always had Hilda, so she never needed a gun, but Eddie was good to have around if there were simply too many geeks around for Molly to get rid of. They learned to work together, and even though finding food and water for two people was difficult at times, it was easier to have two pairs of eyes looking than just one. Molly looked up when she heard the living room door open.

"You can come in now, I have it all set up!" Eddie said, trying to cover his excitement. Molly walked into the room and stopped at the doorway, staring at her surprise. "What do you think? Pretty fancy, huh?"

There was a small round table with a big piece of dirty blue fabric thrown over it as a tablecloth, with two open cans of food sitting on it, with plastic forks set next to each of them. One long lit candlestick was sitting in a brass candlestick holder in the middle of the table, and along side it was a water bottle filled to the brim. Two mismatched chairs were across from each other, and one was covered with what looked like a sheet. The rest of the room was empty, it looked as though Eddie had cleared the rest of the furniture and taken it to another room, judging by the dust lines on the wooden floor. The pink light of the sunset outside made the whole room glow.

Molly was taken aback by how difficult it must have been for Eddie to hide this little sit down dinner from her. Now she knew why he had practically begged her to stay in this town until tomorrow. She wanted to move on, but he insisted that there was something they missed when looting the area. And she didn't feel like separating and going alone, she enjoyed his company, most of the time.

"So you set this up so we could have a fancy dinner?" Molly asked brashly, turning to Eddie, as she uncrossed her arms and let them rest at her side.

"Well yeah. We have known each other for months, but I still feel like we haven't had time to really talk, I found the cans, and everything else just kinda fell into place. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get to know each other a bit better." Eddie, starting to lose his confidence slightly, stared at his tattoos to avoid looking up at her. A brief silence hung in the air, the only sound that could be heard was the breeze rustling through the overgrown grass in the yard.

"That sounds okay to me, I'm starving, and I haven't done anything like this since before… everything went to shit. Come to think of it I have never done anything like this at all." Molly said, walking to the seat closest to her and sitting down. Eddie followed suit and sat in the other chair, loosening up a bit. Molly rested her elbows on the table as she took her fork and looked into her can.

"I found these in the kitchen, there are a bunch more too, so we can get those on our way out. Thats the second portion of the surprise. Its ravioli, so its like we are at Olive Garden or something." Eddie said, digging in.

"So were there only two parts to the surprise, or are there still more?" Molly asked. She looked up, a sly smile across her face as she started eating.

"You'll just have to wait and see. Now tell me, before this whole thing started, what did you want to do with your life, did you have any big plans?"

"Well, to be honest with you, no. I was still taking my pre-reqs at community college. I didn't really want to go to college either, I just felt it was what I was supposed to do, but it turns out I am better at killing geeks than I am at figuring out a lifelong career, so lucky me I guess." Molly said, avoiding eye contact with Eddie. Opening up about her past was something she wasn't exactly comfortable with doing, but she knew if her and Eddie kept traveling together, this day would come. She just didn't realize how much effort Eddie was willing to put into it though, it was refreshing.

"I hear you, I didn't have any plans for the future either, I still felt like I was a teenager, shit, I still do. My friend Wyatt and I, we were just waiting for some opportunity to come to us, I have no idea why. He was smarter than I am though, I would never have told him that, but its true, he at least had a job, he was doing something."

"I'm sure you were doing your best, that's all anyone can do, even now. I usually do better on my own, but I would be lying if I said you aren't good company, " At those words, they both looked at each other and grinned, and continued enjoying their meal.

The evening seemed to pass by in a flash, they talk for hours, covering topics like their favorite cartoons from their childhoods, who they hung out with in high school, and what their first experience with a walker was like. By the time they realized how long they had been talking, the sun had gone down hours ago, and their only source of light, the candle was getting close to going out. The wax was dripping from it and onto the tablecloth. They had both forgotten the situation they were in for a while, and they seemed to come back to reality at the same time.

"We should get to figuring out where we are gonna sleep, the floor in here would be okay, but we should barricade the door." Molly said getting up from the table and heading to the door, and getting out her flashlight.

"Whoa whoa wait! There is one last surprise, come with me," and Eddie blew out the candle, got out his flashlight, and led her back to the front door. He went into the other rooms and brought a huge dresser with him, and Molly helped him shove it against the door, blocking anyone or anything from getting in. Then, Eddie started heading up the creaky steep stairs, and Molly followed. They reached the top and Eddie headed into the bedroom on the left. She walked in behind him, and she saw what looked to be the comfiest bed she had seen in months. But then she remembered that Eddie talked about a "Surprise," and Molly gave him a scowl that would scare anyone.

"Why do you look so mad at- OH. Wait, I didn't mean to make it look dirty- I'm a fucking idiot." Eddie took a second to mentally kick himself before saying, "This is where you get to sleep, I am going to bed in the room across the hall. I just found this really nice one and thought you could use a good night's sleep."

Molly stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say. She knew he was being sincere, and it was nice of him to think of her, but, she just wasn't used to this. She was always the one who looked out for herself, and for the people she cared about, but it had been a long time since someone had thought of her, and did something nice for her, it was just hard to believe that Eddie wasn't trying to get something from her. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would do something sweet without wanting something in return. But, Molly thought, this world has changed her in a lot of ways, and she was sure it changed Eddie too.

"I could have presented this a whole lot better, I know, it was dumb to just bring you up and here and show you a bed without-"

"Eddie."

"-Yeah?"

"Thanks."


	2. The Dead Always Win

Author's note: Okay, this is my favorite one shot so far, how Molly and Eddie meet. There are season 1 sad things involved, so be careful. I cried writing this one, so just fair warning.

* * *

Molly scaled the building and jumped atop the roof. There were more geeks in Savannah than usual today, and walking down on the ground was a very bad idea. The Fall air was filled with kicked-up soil, and the only shields Molly had from getting it in her eyes were her mask and hood, but they didn't offer much in the way of protection from dust. Night was finally taking over the sky , and the day that was seeming to drag on and on was coming to a close. As she jumped from roof to roof, her mind kept wandering back to Lee and his group. Just yesterday she hugged Lee goodbye, and he wished her luck. She wondered if they were out on the water right now, looking for a better place to be. She hoped they got out in time, before this huge army of geeks rolled in.

Part of her kind of regretted not going with them. Now she was very much alone, in a city full of the dead. But there was no going back now, she had made her choice, end of story. She made herself focus on the task at hand, finding food. She was headed to the other side of town, to ring the bell in one of the bell towers, to see if she could scrounge up some supplies, even with the dozens of geeks that littered every street she looked down. She was about to jump to the next roof when she saw someone on the street below.

* * *

Eddie heard the click of his gun that meant he was out of bullets, panic stricken, he shoved it in his back pocket and ran for his life. He had found himself wandering into this city, not thinking anything of it, he had no where else to go. He could hear the ever-present moans and growls of walkers behind him, growing louder with every bound he took. He had never felt so close to death, he felt his fate breathing down his neck. He had made it to the street corner, but each direction he turned, there were at least ten walkers. He found the least treacherous way and began sprinting again. His eyes were watering from the dust collecting in them, but he fought to keep them wide open.

He didn't know how he had made it this long to begin with, ever since he and Wyatt got separated, he had been on his own, and there had been so many close calls in that span time, he could almost feel premature gray hairs growing into his beard from the stress of it all. He stopped running when there was a wall of walkers in front of him. He stumbled back, muttering every curse word that came to his mind. He was surrounded, and the walkers were closing in on him. He kicked back the ones that were closest to him, as he was slowly getting backed against a brick wall, and nowhere left to go.

* * *

Molly stepped closer to the edge of the building, and looked closely at the person. They were obviously a guy, and they had a striped beanie on, and they looked to be in trouble. They were frantically running from the army of geeks that had picked up his scent. She watched as they surrounded him.

Molly's first instinct was to just go on her way, and forget she even saw this person, whoever they were. They weren't her problem. But something in the back of her mind told her to help them. Molly had closed herself off from people for so long, it was hard to even think about sticking her neck out for someone who could be just as bad as the people who were running Crawford, but for all she knew, they could be another Lee, someone worth giving at least a chance.

* * *

Eddie wished more than anything that he had one bullet left in his gun, so he could end it all quickly. But no, he turned his head away to face the wall, so he wouldn't see them ambling towards him anymore, only hear it. But just as he could sense that they were inches from him, he heard someone behind him, fighting off the walkers, someone alive. He turned and saw who he thought to be some dude in an orange jacket taking walkers apart left and right, like they were nothing. The orange jacket stranger's face was hidden by his hood and face mask, so Eddie couldn't get a good look at him. Eddie felt a little useless, since his gun was out of bullets, and he had never bothered trying to find another weapon.

Even though the stranger was doing a bad ass job of taking care of the walkers, more and more kept closing them in, so Eddie decided their best chance was to check for an escape. He looked at the buildings behind him, first he looked to his left. There was a large hotel with big weak-looking windows lining the whole front. If they broke a window and went in there, the walkers would just follow them in and they might get trapped, so Eddie then looked to his right. There was a small store, but it opened with a garage door, and there were no windows to be seen, if they could get in there, they would be safe, most likely.

"Wait wait, dude! Over here!" Eddie said as he crouched and began to try to pry open the garage door on his own. The stranger saw what he was doing and despite hesitating for a split second, they ran over and helped Eddie pry it open. They both slid under the door, and barely managed to dodge the walker's arms that were grasping at them as the garage door slammed shut.

They both sat on the floor, catching their breath, when Eddie looked over at his rescuer. Their hood had fallen off, and Eddie could see that the orange jacketed stranger wasn't a dude at all, but a women.

"Oh, I'm sorry, for assuming you were a guy, that was stupid. I'm uh, my name is Eddie, and thanks for-" Eddie stopped when he heard a growling sound coming from the back of the room, and saw the women stand and walk towards where the sound came from, her weapon drawn and gripped tightly. Eddie stood up, brushed himself off and followed behind her.

* * *

Molly felt her own grip loosen on Hilda, and finally heard the clatter as she let Hilda slip out of her hand and onto the floor. The same feeling she felt when her sister was taken away from her, the hollow sadness, was filling her chest once again, and time seemed to slow if only for a moment. There Lee was, handcuffed to a radiator by one arm, his other arm chopped off, his eyes now clouded over, it happens to everyone who turns, she thought, but there was something especially awful about seeing Lee's eyes that way. There was a pillar in front of him, and a twice dead walker crushed under it. The walker Lee had become was thrashing around, lifting what remained of his left arm, trying to grab at her. Molly was trying to understand what could have led him here, what could have possibly happened that would leave him abandoned, left to turn. She had so many questions she would never get answers to, she would never know what happened to his group, or the little girl…

"What's wrong? Did you know him or something?" Eddie took a step closer to her. Molly suddenly picked up Hilda and smashed the glass counter next to her, glass bits flying every which way. Eddie jumped back in surprise. Molly then turned to the walker crushed under the pillar and started hacking away at him, stabbing his torso relentlessly, and then finally stomping on his head. She stepped over it and took one last look at Lee's face before swinging Hilda into the side of his head, and that was all it took.

Molly turned and faced Eddie, who now looked concerned for his own safety. She figured she should explain. She took a long sigh, her shoulders hunching as she exhaled, and she put Hilda away.

"I did know him. I spent time with him and his group, They- they were looking for a boat to get out of here, and for a little while I was planning on going with them. But once we had everything we needed to get going, I backed out and left. I have no idea how he got here, he was probably bitten though, it would explain his arm being gone. Its just that he…. had a little girl with him." Molly voice was becoming thick, like she was going to cry, so she resorted to looking at the floor. She would probably never know what happened to that child, she would never know if anyone ever actually made it on that boat at all. Something she said yesterday rang in her head over and over again "In the end, the dead _always _win."

Eddie didn't know how to help make her feel better, he knew saying sorry wouldn't help anything, so he just stood there, letting her have a little quiet. Whenever something bad would happen to him, he would just take a moment to sit in silence, and let whatever it was sink in before making any decisions about what to do next.

After a few minutes, Molly took a few deep breaths,and seemed to return to her normal self.

"Okay, lets just go. There is nothing left in Savannah anymore, theres no point for you to stay here either. I can help you get out, but once we do, we split paths, got it?" Molly asked as she held out her hand for Eddie to shake it. He stepped closer and they shook hands, and they both walked into the back room. They started up the stairs to the roof, but Molly stopped. Eddie stopped and looked up at her as she asked her question.

"You said your name was Eddie, right?"

"Yeah, what's yours?"

"I'm Molly."

And with that they continued up the stairs, leaving the events that had shoved them together behind. Soon they would leave Savannah behind as well.


End file.
